From the Desk of the CEO
Dwayne Fosseen, CEO
December 15, 2008
Engines, like people, can perform work with little indications of having a life
threatening health problem. I am sure the majority of people living in the
United States see advertisements several times per year reminding you to have a
regular medical checkup regarding cancer and other health related problems.
Finding health problems at an early stage makes a significant difference in
survival and recovery.
I have pulled another example from Mirenco’s database that demonstrates the
importance of conducting regular diesel engine combustion evaluations.
Like people, engines develop combustion
health problems. These engine health
problems can be detected using MDEP prior to the vehicle showing the normal
signs of combustion loss or performance problems.
At MDEP
Highlights 12/15/2008, you will find Mirenco offers our clients an ongoing
medical file for each engine’s evaluation. The chart tracks the fuel loss
history of the engine based on combustion changes. You will see the engine
baseline was performed in August of 2007 with a calculated fuel loss of 129
gallons of diesel fuel per year. The
engine was not evaluated again until September of 2008 with a calculated
combustion loss of 599 gallons of diesel fuel per year at that time.
The objective is use more of the diesel fuel productively and minimize
diesel fuel usage that is not productive.
This example,
MDEP Highlights 12/15/2008, represents over one year of not knowing how the
engine combustion loss developed. After
the September 2008 engine combustion loss was reported to the fleet management,
it was decided to service the vehicle combustion health problem and reduce the
diesel fuel loss. In December of 2008,
the diesel fuel loss was reduced from 588 gallons per year down to 188 gallons
representing a savings of 400 gallons that was simply blowing out the vehicle
tailpipe as unwanted emissions.
In the MDEP
Highlights 12/15/2008, you can look at all three engine combustion reports
for that vehicle. If you look close and
compare these combustion health reports, you will see the engine combustion has
lost some ground from August of 2007 to December of 2008 regarding Carbon
Monoxide. This indicates the engine is burning engine oil at an increased rate
compared to the reported results in 2007. This could be normal for the 3,817
hours accumulated on the engine over the time period. On the other hand, the
Carbon Monoxide increase could be, in part, from the 588 gallons per year of
over fueling causing accelerated engine cylinder wall and piston ring wear.
The engine service mechanic reported that the vehicle overhead adjustment was
needed. The engine fuel injection timing was adjusted and the air filter was
replaced. When used properly MDEP can provide, for an engine, what regular
health checkups provide for people. A health checkup on a regular basis can
find developing problems and allow for corrective actions to take place before
catastrophic events occur. In the same way, an engine can improve its quality
of life (performance) and overall length of life.
Dwayne Fosseen, CEO
Mirenco Inc.